A consistent fitness regiment is universally accepted by medical authorities as being instrumental to longevity and good health. There are currently several devices available that monitor an individual exercising on an exercise apparatus. Examples of these are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,493,485, 4,409,992, and 4,408,183. The problem with these devices is that they are limited to recording the performance the user decides to achieve and provide no instruction on the performance the user should achieve. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,488 provides a predetermined pace for the user regardless of the user's actual fitness level. Additionally, the aforementioned devices provide no indication of past performance from which a trend can be interpolated. U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,940 does provide the capability to record past performance but makes no provision to automatically calculate future performance requirements based upon that stored information. Additionally U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,940 requires that each piece of exercise equipment be instrumented in order to be accessible by the device.
A key element to a fitness program is the ability to continually challenge the body physically. When a person has performed an exercise at a consistent level, the muscles tend to acclimate to the particular exercise and plateau at the level of development required to maintain the exertion level. In order to advance the development of the muscles involved, the exertion level must be increased at specific intervals. Without continual professional instruction, most amateur fitness enthusiasts lack the basic knowledge to determine when and by how much to advance their workout parameters to achieve maximum effectiveness.
The System described herein allows the Trainer to impart a training philosophy to each exercise. The Trainer can specify up to four actions to be performed, automatically, on specified exercise dependent parameters (pounds of weight, repetitions, sets, etc.) when specified events (completed routines, elapsed days, etc.) occur. The Trainer can have a parameter increase, decrease, or the exercise completely removed from the workout when the specified event occurs. The events are user selectable using dynamically compiled lists and numeric entry fields. Each time client's daily workout routine is requested, the System will compute the new parameters for each exercise using the exercise's philosophy settings, the performance of the last workout session, and the current date. The end result is a workout program that adapts to the client's actual workout performance achieving the desired result without the client possessing a prerequisite knowledge of exercise training or cost of a private trainer each workout session.
The current most popular method of displaying and recording an exercise fitness program involves a cardboard sheet depicting a list of exercises, initial setup parameters, and columns representing workout sessions. The user must manually mark the repetitions, sets, or other work performed for each corresponding exercise. The end result is a very crowded matrix that reveals little trend information and requires manual computation to determine future performance goals. Storage of these sheets may become cumbersome, especially for a large client population.
The System will eliminate the paper workout sheet and replace it with compact portable battery powered computerized Digital Training Assistants (DTAs). Each DTA is dynamically programmed with the user's own fitness routine calculated for the specific workout session. The DTA unit will interactively instruct the user on both the sequence of exercises to be performed as well as the exercises setup and desired performance parameters. A keypad interface to modify parameters is provided to permit recording of the actual work performed. The resultant exercise information is downloaded back to the System where it becomes a permanent part of the user's individual workout performance history database file. The file's data will be used in the computation of the next workout session's exercise performance parameters.
Determining past performance trends using the traditional paper method of parameter recording requires manually graphing data points. This becomes increasingly impractical with increasing number of workouts. The user will often not increase the workout parameters over time or even worse, increment parameters regardless of the actual fitness level attained.
By utilizing the detailed exercise data in the client's individual workout performance history database file, several reports and graphs can be produced with the speed and accuracy of a computerized system. This gives a new level of instant feedback not previously available in the Fitness Club environment. The client is now able to determine the apparent effectiveness of his workout routine and become more connected to his workout by virtue of the near real-time reporting capability of the System. Enthusiasm and involvement are both enhanced.
A common problem with personal trainers at a fitness club is that each trainer will impart their own individual exercise fitness philosophy onto a client. The result being that any two clients trained by different trainers will have differing fitness programs and varied results. There is a loss of standardization within the club and each new trainer adds to the problem. A method of standardizing the training philosophies using a collective expertise is needed within the industry.
The proposed system will allow the Head Trainer to impart his/her training expertise to each Assistant Trainer by mandating that the trainers implement one of the stored exercise routine templates when training a client. The System will allow different exercise templates to be constructed using the equipment and exercises found at the facility. Each template's exercises may have corresponding parameter increasing/decreasing philosophies designed by the Head Trainer as well.
Accuracy in reporting a client's workout performance is another problem encountered by trainers. When a client is not being monitored personally by a trainer, the client is then responsible for remembering and recording the actual work performed. The client must also be aware of the parameters to record and the correct terminology. The Trainer must then be apprised of the client's performance so that he/she may make adjustments as required.
The DTA units allow the client to easily record the actual work performed. Even if a client is unable to complete the exercise as prescribed and displayed, the actual work performed is easily input to the DTA using a numeric keypad and associated function keys. The DTA will prompt the client to make the entry and alert him of any input errors with the required corrective action. The edited workout routine is then downloaded, with computer accuracy, to the System. The changes are instantly noted by the System and adjustments are automatically made.
Currently, at a moderate sized fitness club, the client to trainer ratio is worse than 40 to 1. Most client's are reluctant to incur the additional cost of a Personal Trainer at each session as well as the inconvenience of having to schedule workouts around a trainer's availability. The result is a vast majority of a club's clientele are not taking advantage of the trainers. A potential loss of revenue for the club.
When utilizing the System, the trainers effectively multiply their presence and utility. This is accomplished by having many clients operating the System and DTAs, following the trainer's designed workout program. The automatic parameter philosophy incrementing/decrementing function will ensure that the client is receiving the maximum benefit of the exercise program as if the trainer were always present to make those adjustments in person. An initial trainer/client session for setup and instruction on usage will increase facility's trainer exposure and periodic fitness program checkups ensure further trainer usage.
Currently, a trainer would have to interview and review the workout sheets for several clients to determine if a particular training regiment is performing as prescribed. This is a labor intensive endeavor demanding a large portion of the trainer's work hours. It is to both the trainer's and client's benefit to maximize the effectiveness of a workout routine.
The system will allow the trainer to asses the effectiveness of a workout program by virtue of the system's recording and reporting capabilities combined with the ability to simultaneously look at several different client's and their corresponding demographics. Performance graphs give easily understandable trend analysis useful in determining the effectiveness of the regiment. The trainer may now fine tune the routine to achieve maximum effectiveness.
The comprehensive database capabilities of the system will allow the creation of equipment usage reports charting the number of clients using a particular piece of exercise equipment during a particular week throughout a calendar year this will provide more accurate maintenance scheduling and equipment utilization data.
Demographic and medical information for a client is instantly available to the Trainer as well as the ability to create reports for membership analysis. Such information is very useful in planning promotions and configuration of the facility to better match the client's requirements.